Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-07-22
DAILY HERALD.
THE FIRE.
A Lively Blaze i'm The Heart of
The Town.

The Town.
About 10 minutes to 10 o'clock last
night, Charles Moore, an employe o.
II. T. Hollingsworth's Jewelry Els.
tablishment at No. 80 South Spring
street, noticed an unusual light com.
ing through the transom at the rear Of
the store. Knowing that something
was wrong, he opened the back door,
and discovered that small blaze was
commencing to destroy pile OF furn,
iture wrappings in the rear yard OF
f. S. Aliens Furniture Store, No. 81
South Spring street. Mr.. Moore
knowing the inAammable ma
fure of the material stored in
the back yard Of the furniture
store, searched high and low for a
bucket, since at this time a
bucketful of water would have
confined the blaze to very small
compass. However no bucket could
be found and the fire spread until it
was certain that the fire department
would have to be called out. To at
tract attention Mr.. Moore procured his
revolver and fred several shots into
the air calling out fire at the top of his
voice. Some one passing the alley
way on First street was attracted by
the shots and looking in that direc-
tion discovered the fire and ran over
to the engine house on Main street.
A few minutes afterwards an alarm
was turned in from box No. 80 and
shortly afterward the members OF the
department reached the scene. For
some reason it was nearly five min
utes after the first engine arrived be-
fore the water was turned on. At
this time everything inside of Il Q
fence surrounding the back yard of the
furniture store was ablaze, and the
window castings above had commenced
to burn.
As soon as the water was turned
on the fire all danger of spread was
over, for the brick walls surrounding
the yard confined the flames to a
small area. The damage was mostly
to the furniture store of j. S. Allen,
whose stock inside was injured by
water and smoke to the extent OF
about $500. In the yard where the
fire started, the furniture and repair
ing material was entirely consumed,
and the damage amounted to a trifle
over $780, The building was damaged
in about 5000, and up stairs in the
lodging house, kept by Mrs. Davis,
the injury by water and smoke fell
ON the landlady and on Thompson &
Glover, architects. The damage
here was 5000. Next door
at No. 36h S. Spring street the
damage was not very heavy, although
at one time it appeared as if the inte-
rior was doomed. The window castings
were burned and the carpets damaged
to the extent of about 5000. The
building rs owned by the Davies, Hem
derson Lumber Co., and the furni-
ture was the property Of Mr..
Beady. Most of the loss is covered by
insurance in the local companies. No
one was able to account for the start
ing OF the fire, since nothing was kept
in the yard but furniture and the pack
ing, and no one was known to have
been near the place after & o'clock
and when Mr.. Moore discovered the
blaze in its infancy no one else was
around. When the fire was at its
heigth, the chickens in the market at
the rear, being exposed to the full
force of the heat, raised quite an out
cry, and the crowd broke open the
doors and liberateda a number OF them.
As usual in the case of fire, the
crowd which collected about the prem
ises was very large.